Sony Pictures CEO blames media for Madame Web’s failure, full answer revealed

Madame Web was criticized unjustly by the press, feels Tony Vinciquerra, CEO of Sony Pictures. He notes the criticism came from all quarters, leading to the film's failure. Madame Web managed to gross a little over $100 million globally, and has been declared a box office bomb.

Vinciquerra maintains that even with an 11 per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes, Madam Web was "not a bad film" and that it has fared well on streaming media platforms such as Netflix.

This criticism reflects the continuing debate while triggering discussion on whether or not critical reviews change audience perspectives, at a time the studio has been trying to set up Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU).

Press Criticism vs. Audience Reception to Madame Web

What Tony Vinciquerra believes is the spotlight on negative reviews adversely affects a film's opening collections at the box office. He claims Madame Web was "destroyed by critics".

Critics had noted the film's poor characterization and uneven plotting as reasons for the film's poor reception. Although the public rejected Madame Web when it released theatrically in February 2024, Vinciquerra refers to the audience reaction on streaming sites to argue in favor of the film.

He mentions how Venom: The Last Dance, the fifth release of SSU that opened in October 2024, is still raking in millions despite criticism. Such a discrepancy raises the question whether negative publicity generated by poor reviews is the culprit or creative blunders are to blame for a film's failure.

Variety quotes Vinciquerra as saying:

“Madame Web underperformed in the theaters because the press just crucified it. It was not a bad film, and it did great on Netflix. For some reason, the press decided that they didn’t want us making these films out of Kraven and Madame Web, and the critics just destroyed them. They also did it with Venom, but the audience loved Venom and made Venom a massive hit. These are not terrible films. They were just destroyed by the critics in the press, for some reason.”

Challenges Facing Sony’s Marvel Universe

Despite what Vinciquerra claims as reason for the flopping of Madame Web, it is not the only SSU film in recent times to underperform. Recent titles such as Kraven the Hunter (sixth film of SSU, released in December 2024) and Morbius (third SSU release, in April 2022), have fared poorly at the box office after poor reviews.

When Kraven opened to disappointing domestic receipts of just $11 million, Vinciquerra admitted it was "probably the worst launch" he had ever seen in his capacity.

Mounting lesser known superheroes on a lavish scale, and with budgets these films struggle to recover, SSU has merely embarked on ricky business. This has not been the case with films featuring iconic superheroes such as Spider-Man that have taken the box office by storm under the franchise name of Marvel Studios in the past.

Vinciquerra hints that he needed to rethink how to carry the Sony initiative further, in order to avoid pitfalls in the future. He stressed a need for stories to be more critically conceived.

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Madame Web is probably an example of the gaps that exist between creative vision, critical reception, and audience interaction. Vinciquerra’s claim that the flm's prospects were manipulated by media scrutiny could be a big challenge for the studio to deal with.

Critics, on their part, feel Sony's woes stem from bad execution and not press influence. Meanwhile, the question remains whether the studio can reverse the underwhelming results and restore audience trust in its Marvel franchises while rejigging SSU's strategies.

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